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Mental health: State to set up regional centers of excellence

 

The government will set up regional centers of excellence to assist in the provision of mental health services and ease the burden of Mathare National Teaching and Referral Hospital.

 Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said six more centres will be created across the country.

 Speaking in Kisumu during the World Mental Awareness week, Mr Kagwe said the facilities will ensure Kenyans have an easy access to critical mental health services.

 “Currently we have serious disparities in access to mental health services while the country has invested very little on mental awareness,” Mental Health Taskforce Chairman Dr Frank Njenga who represented the CS.

 Mr Kagwe said that the task force on mental health has come up with an investment case study, which will be used to show the impact of channeling more funds towards psychological disorders.

 The investment, according to the CS, will help in dealing with inequities in the mental awareness space.

  “According to the case study, for every one shilling we invest in mental health among children or adolescents, we get back Sh20 in two decades,” said the CS.

 “We need to tackle this growing social and economic inequities given that they are the determinants of mental health,” he stated.

 Dr Njenga said every Kenyan has a role to play in the campaign towards mental wellness.

 “One of the key things that were discovered in the task force report is that discrimination and marginalisation of persons with mental health needs is still a major barrier towards the campaign,” he said.

 Nyanza counties have been ranked among regions with a higher mental health prevalence due marginalisation of the affected victims and substance abuse among other challenges.

 According to statistics from the National Authority for Campaign against Drug abuse (Nacada), the national prevalence of substance abuse stands at one percent while Nyanza is at two per cent.

 "The national prevalence for second degree alcohol is at 1.8 per cent while Nyanza is at 2 percent," continued the report.

 Kisumu County Governor Peter Anyang Nyong'o, however, said that an increase of mental health cases have been as result of the pandemic.

He said that a number of residents lost their loved ones due to the Covid-19 while a larger number is battling job losses.

 “The fight against mental health has been derailed due to lack of enough psychiatrists in the country,” he said.

 According to the Governor, Kenya has only 500 mental health experts dealing with 50 million Kenyans who may at one given time suffer from mental disorders.

 "The number of those suffering from mental health has continued to rise at an alarming rate in the country and authorities need to move first to address the crisis,” he said.    BY DAILY NATION  

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